


Spoilers for My Valentine

by Asphodelia



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, There's only one real spoiler and it's for Star Wars, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:01:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29423478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asphodelia/pseuds/Asphodelia
Summary: Demetri tries to lure Hawk back to the light by spoiling all of the 'nerd shit' he doesn't watch.
Relationships: Demetri & Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz, Demetri/Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz, Miguel Diaz & Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz
Comments: 38
Kudos: 82





	Spoilers for My Valentine

**January 5**

The cafeteria was loud and bustling. Kyler was talking about…something. Hawk didn’t honestly care. Everyone else was laughing, though, so he managed a sharp little smirk. He managed it by imagining the look on Kyler’s face if he punched him in the throat right now, but still. He managed it. 

Hawk was not forcing himself to look amused and interested to get on Kyler’s good side, obviously. He wasn’t forcing anything. He was the alpha Cobra at this table and it was Kyler who was always scrambling to stay in his good graces. Still, when they were in the group like this joking around as a unit Hawk – who was supposed to be in charge – was going to participate. He had everything he could want now: he was a badass, he had a crew, he could watch Kyler squirm whenever he wanted, and nobody would dare mess with him. Except the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang kids. But whatever. It was good to have enemies; it kept you from getting soft. 

Point was – he had everything. So, he was going to lean back and put his feet up and be the silently grinning leader while his friends laughed at… Something to do with a massive load of something Kyler had to deliver. So, this was either a story about a part-time job he doubted Kyler had or it was crude, probably sexist, and definitely not as funny as everyone seemed to think. What was it about Kyler that made people like him without him even having to try? He’d had to hang out with him for a while now and Hawk could confidently say he had no redeeming qualities. He was just loud and confident. It was almost like he was so certain he was cool that his certainty convinced everyone around him. 

It was not unlike how Hawk started projecting that he was a badass and everyone besides Demetri just bought it. Not that he was running some kind of con, or that he wanted to compare himself to Kyler…

“You coming Hawk?” Right. People thought he was listening. 

“Nah, I’m not done eating.” That was true. He didn’t know where the cobra – Beck? One of the ones who wasn’t Kyler – was going but he did still have half a tray of food to eat. It turned out that whatshisname wasn’t going alone, though; the whole group migrated away somewhere. So Hawk probably should have gone with them. Oh well. It wasn’t like Miyagi-Do was going to attack randomly in the cafeteria. 

Or, that hadn’t been something Hawk thought Miyagi-Do would do, but the other cobras had only been out of the room a second before Demetri was sliding into one of the vacant seats at his table. Hawk scowled and tried to ward the lanky nerd off with the force of his glare. His ex-best friend remained as immune to it as ever. If anything he smiled a bit wider. He leaned back and put his feet up on the same chair Hawk had his resting on. 

“What do you think you’re –“

“Rey is a Palpatine.” 

“What?” 

Hawk didn’t understand what was happening. What did Demetri think he was doing just… sitting with him and talking about Star Wars? Also, Rey was what?

“They revealed it by having her use the lightning power when she was getting aggressive with the force. It was pretty cool.” 

That did sound like a pretty cool reveal. And Hawk was never going to get to experience it. 

“Dude, spoiler!” Hawk whisper-yelled automatically, putting his feet back under the table and leaning towards Demetri to glare a bit harder. He realized a second later that movie spoilers were actually a pretty trivial thing to care about considering everything else that had happened between them, but in the moment he’d just reacted. 

“Is it?” Why did Demetri look like the cat who’d gotten the cream, and the tuna, and was enjoying them in the glow of a perfect sun beam?

“Well, yeah.” Obviously? Again, not that it was important. Hawk should really just tell Demetri to fuck off. Or dump some food on him and go. 

“I thought you didn’t watch nerd shit. Can’t spoil something you’re not going to watch.” 

“I don’t! It’s the principle of the…thing…” Demetri was up and gone and couldn’t hear his terrible, sputtered, attempt at a retort. It was lucky the other Cobras hadn’t been around to hear it either.

It was the first week of January, just a couple weeks after the big brawl at the LaRusso house. Hawk hadn’t been there. He should have been, but his mother had decided they were going to visit his grandparents for winter break and he’d already been on the plane when he’d gotten the text about it. It was annoying to have missed such an important fight, especially considering how his team had apparently gotten their asses handed to them without him. Miguel and Demetri had both taken serious beatings but them, Princess LaRusso, and the others had still turned the tides. If Hawk was being completely honest with himself, he didn’t like thinking about how messed up Miguel’s back and Demetri’s arm could have gotten, again, in an ambush like that… But it didn’t matter. Miguel’s back was still alright, Demetri’s arm was still alright, they’d both just been bruised badly. And Hawk’s team had lost without him. He’d resolved to be there the next time there was a big brawl to make sure that didn’t happen again. Not that there was likely to be another ‘karate riot’ any time soon. Sensei said they were going to settle things in the tournament.

Until then they were supposed to focus on training and not start any major fights – it was some kind of deal Sensei Kreese had made. They’d win at the All Valley and then it’d be open season. 

In the meantime, Hawk was focused on maintaining what status he had left. He was the alpha of the Cobras that went to his high school, but not in general. He and Tory had somewhat shared it before and that had been fine. They weren’t best friends or anything but he wasn’t on her shitlist and loyalty to the team was important to Tory so even if they didn’t necessarily like each other he didn’t have to worry she’d turn on him. With her leading the team to a loss at the LaRusso house Hawk might even have had an edge on her, but that was moot now because of Robby. 

Robby wasn’t really a Cobra, he just had a vendetta against his dad. He looked down his nose at the rest of them from this morally superior Miyagi-Do high horse, but would turn around and be as brutal and hateful as anyone if he thought he had reason to be. Oh, and he’d broken Miguel’s back. So needless to say, Hawk didn’t like Robby. But despite not really being one of them in Hawk’s mind, Robby was King Cobra now. Nobody else cared about what he’d done… but then, they hadn’t cared when Hawk broke Demetri’s arm either, so that fit. 

At least, unlike with Kyler, Hawk could see why people who weren’t himself seemed to like Robby. In day-to-day interactions he was… kind. Not to Hawk because Hawk had made the conscious decision to be as much of a jerk to Robby as he could get away with without causing drama, but to other people. He was brave and helpful and comfortable in his own skin. He obviously didn’t have that patented Miyagi-Do inner peace anymore, if he ever had, but he also wasn’t a feral animal the way most of them were. The way Hawk knew he was. 

Point was, people liked Robby essentially for being nice, something they all agreed was an indicator of weakness in anyone else. If Hawk showed up to practice and tried being nice they’d probably eat him alive. Well, everyone except Robby would, which was an annoying thing to be aware of. He hated the guy, but it was everyone besides him he had to watch out for. 

So, if people liked Robby for being a ‘stand up dude’, how did the same people also like Kyler who was the exact opposite of that? Robby was just his incongruously nice self and people liked him. Kyler was just his loud asshole self and people liked him. Hawk would be crucified for the first and could only be feared for the second. He didn’t get it at all. 

He did know that the status he still had was based on intimidation and being the most twisted guy on the team, though, so he’d have to be ready to keep his composure a lot better if Demetri ever pulled whatever that had been again in front of an audience. 

**January 8**

“Do you want to marathon Knight’s Wish tonight?”

“What?” Hawk closed his locker to find Demetri just leaning casually on the lockers behind it and talking like they were still friends. 

“The new season’s starting soon, I could use a refresh.”

Hawk didn’t know what Demetri was playing at with this but it had to be some kind of game. Since Hawk wasn’t allowed to strike first until after the tournament, he just glared and walked away. Demetri followed and Hawk remembered they had Chemistry together next period. 

“The plot got pretty complicated near the end of last season. Did you see?”

“How many times do I have to tell you, I don’t watch –“

“Cadmus and Lauriel are half-siblings, Therion is Lauriel’s father too.”

Okay, this was more weird spoiler shit, but… Poor Lauriel. She been working so hard to earn the trust of the people when Hawk had stopped watching, and this meant she couldn’t inherit the throne anyways. And did she carry Therion’s blood curse too? It was good to know Cadmus and Lauriel wouldn’t be hooking up, at least, because it had always made zero sense to Hawk as a match. But wow were the shippers probably mad… If they were closing that door, might they actually let Cadmus notice how devoted Marco was to him? 

“How did they find out? Did the king know?” Hawk asked before he could stop himself. His voice was excited and interested and definitely not in keeping with the image he was trying to maintain. Demetri smirked. Hawk huffed and walked faster. “Never mind.” 

Demetri laughed behind him. Smug bastard. This was way worse than the Star Wars one – he might be able to watch Rise of Skywalker some day when he was sure he could just watch the movie without being a nerd about it. He’d made a point of not watching it so far, but even Kyler had seen it. Knight’s Wish, though? Not only would he never get to experience that reveal for himself (not that he would have anyways), he also had a million questions he’d never have answers to. Because he was not going to watch it. 

**January 14**

Hawk was failing chemistry. It wasn’t a revelation – he’d realized before winter break he probably wouldn’t be able to turn things around before the end of the semester (the end of January) – but the bright red ‘39/100’ score on the test in front of him pretty much sealed the deal. He could still pass – if barely – by acing the final, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen. 

What would he tell Sensei Kreese – that he needed to take a step back from training to focus on school? When they had the big tournament coming up? As if. Karate had to be his main focus, and what time he didn’t spend on training was spent with the other Cobras stirring things up or having some drinks because that was part of being a Cobra Kai too.

He’d never failed a class in his life, though. Even when he’d been in terrible shape he’d passed P.E by showing up and still at least trying to do the things he sucked at. Science used to be one of his best subjects. He wasn’t one of those people who could get by with cramming; he had to consistently do the work if he was going to keep up, and he always had. He’d put the time in because he’d thought school was important and because he’d actually found it interesting. 

And because he hadn’t had a life. This was just the cost of that, right? He shouldn’t care so much about grades.

“Ouch.” Hawk did not jump at the sound of Demetri’s voice cutting through his contemplation. Tensed a bit, maybe, but that’s it. They obviously didn’t sit together, but the bell had rung and instead of shuffling out the door without looking at Hawk (like he normally would) his ex-friend had come to loom over his shoulder and spy on his test mark. 

“Buzz off, Demetri.” Hawk growled and shoved the test paper into his bag, not caring that he’d probably crumpled or torn it since he probably wasn’t going to have a chance to review his mistakes anyways. He was going to leave the classroom like everyone else already had, but Demetri kept talking.

“You like this class.” He sounded… worried? Hawk looked back at him and he was frowning deeply. 

“It’s not like it’s anything I’ll actually need in the real world.” Hawk didn’t know why he was trying to justify himself. 

“I’ve got a decent handle on it, and my notes aren’t bad. I can help you get ready for the final if you want.” 

Why would Demetri offer something like that? They were enemies. Hawk had seriously hurt him. 

“I don’t need your help.” Hawk sneered. “And I don’t need to waste extra time on a class like this.”

“Right, right.” Demetri feigned agreement in one of his more patronizing tones. “You’re a busy guy. Lots of important stuff going on. Hey, speaking of extra time, you put over 200 hours into Legends of Viperia, right?”

Yes, he had. Shit.

He’d never beaten the game. He’d put that much time in because he’d been finishing every side quest and getting all the special weapons and armor before fighting the final boss, and because he hadn’t wanted it to be over. He’d procrastinated on beating the game for about half a year before he’d given up gaming and stopped playing. 

By now Hawk knew what was coming. He rushed out of the room, but not fast enough to avoid hearing that the hero had to sacrifice himself after the final boss battle and that the peppy little girl in the party was a spy the whole time. 

“This is going to be a fun month.” Was the last thing Hawk heard before he was out the door and out of earshot. 

Having the payoff of all that time and effort stolen was maddening. Realizing Demetri had essentially gotten to watch him run away made it so much worse. 

**January 18**

This was going to be a fun month? What did that mean? 

Actually, Hawk was trying not to think about what Demetri could mean because it really didn’t matter. So what if he kept spoiling things? He’d been right when he said they weren’t really spoilers because Hawk didn’t care about nerd shit. So what if he kept telling him what happened in things he wouldn’t ever experience for himself anyways? Way worse stuff had gone down between them. This was nothing compared to Hawk’s own victories over Demetri. It was nothing even compared to Demetri telling the school his secrets. 

He shouldn’t care, and he shouldn’t even have energy to care. He worked himself to exhaustion every day at the dojo, and then went out with the cobras after. He barely had energy to do homework and definitely didn’t have energy for studying. Yet now when he crashed onto his bed at the end of the day there was a voice whispering in the back of his mind about how nice and comforting it would be to just put on an episode of Doctor Who or read a bit before he went to sleep. ‘Otherwise Demetri might spoil it’ was a decent excuse…But he was stronger than that. He didn’t know what game Demetri was playing but he was pretty sure if he caved and started watching nerd shit again the lanky jackass won. Because luring Hawk back into the vortex of nerd shit must be the goal, right? Demetri would love knowing he’d gotten Hawk to compromise his identity like that. 

Was catching up on things just the only way to take away Demetri’s ammunition? Or was that what Demetri wanted him to think?

It didn’t matter, because he didn’t care. Demetri could spoil whatever he wanted. He could tell him all his former favourite characters were dead and Hawk wouldn’t care. He was ready for it now.

But what did he mean by ‘a fun month’? It had been the 14th of January. Was he going to stop at the end of the month? That seemed like wishful thinking. Was this leading up to some kind of big all-encompassing spoiler bomb at the end of January? Or did he mean ‘month’ starting from the day he’d said it? 

So, February 14th. Valentines Day. Did he have something planned for Valentine’s Day? A quick check showed that that was on a weekend this year, so that made no sense. They didn’t see each other outside of school anymore, not even for fighting now that the war was paused for the tournament. 

It had been a couple days since the comment and Hawk had resolved to just ask Demetri what he meant. It’d be a good opportunity to show he didn’t care about the spoilers too, since facing Demetri would give him an opportunity to throw more at him. 

During lunch hour Hawk – expression deadly, mohawk impeccably done – marched right up to Demetri and his friends. He did not waste time considering how three of them used to be his friends too. Or how they looked like they were all having fun before they noticed him storming over, laughing at a joke where the punchline probably wasn’t ‘Kyler’s a predatory misogynist’. 

Miguel really needed to stop looking at him like he was trying to decide what food to serve at the intervention. He was fine. Maybe Miguel used to be someone he respected but he was a traitor now. 

And Bert? Yeah, Hawk hadn’t really enjoyed the mouse thing either (for the mouse or the poor snake, who could have gotten a serious infection if the mouse had managed to bite him on the way down. Pet snakes were supposed to be fed dead mice. Hawk had googled snake care when he first got serious about Cobra Kai, but had ultimately realized there’d be no way to hide one from his mom), but all Bert had to do was accept that there was a lesson and let it play out. He was a traitor too. 

Then there was Ass Face – no, Mitch. He didn’t deserve to be called Ass Face anymore. He was the worst of them. He’d lost to Kyler in a fight he should have won and been kicked out and now Hawk was alone and Kyler was on the team. Another traitor.

And sure, Hawk wasn’t the one who’d decided Mitch and Bert weren’t Cobra Kai material and he probably wouldn’t have. But they weren’t. Sure he would rather them, and especially Miguel, were still around. But Cobra Kai couldn’t build a powerhouse team based on who Hawk used to talk to the most. It was their own faults that they couldn’t hack it. 

So, Hawk focused on Demetri and stared him down like the smarmy little geek he was. 

“One month until what?”

Demetri had looked concerned when he’d first marched over, had even tensed like Hawk might attack, but now he was just raising an eyebrow like Hawk was expected to elaborate. He didn’t. Demetri should know what he meant. It clicked after a moment and he smiled. 

Smiled, not smirked – there was something oddly satisfied about the expression, but it was still more pleasant than adversarial. Hawk noted – completely objectively – that it suited him. 

“Well, we last spoke on the 14th, so what’s one month from that?”

Hawk just frowned. Demetri couldn’t seriously be implying this was related to Valentine’s Day.

“It’s good you came by, actually. I’ve been meaning to get you to pick your present.” 

“What?”

Miguel sighed the world’s biggest sigh before he and the rest of the table went back to their food, apparently deciding Hawk confronting Demetri wasn’t that interesting after all. At least most of them were keeping their heads down and still looked uneasy about his presence. Princess LaRusso was the only one who bothered to keep shooting him dirty looks while she ate her fries, which Hawk honestly appreciated. He was a dangerous enemy who was worthy of their attention. 

“Pick something – a show, a comic, whatever – and I promise not to spoil it before Valentine’s Day. You can come over then and we’ll get you caught up in whatever you pick.”

“You’re getting me a Valentine’s Day present. And it’s that I can pick one thing to not be spoiled for me?” 

“Romantic, right?” Now Demetri was smirking. “And, to be clear, I won’t spoil it before Valentine’s Day. Whatever you pick will definitely be spoiled February 15th if you don’t catch up with me on the 14th.” 

A list of series and books immediately popped into his head and he spent just a bit too long – long enough for Demetri to notice and his smirk to widen significantly – trying to decide what to pick before he remembered this whole thing was stupid and he didn’t care about the spoilers anyways. 

He glared around for some way to prove his point about not caring – a drink he could dump on someone’s head, or saucy food he could flip into a lap – but didn’t find anything close enough. That’d probably count as preying on the other dojos before the tournament anyways. He settled for swiping Demetri’s blueberry muffin off his tray. Demetri laughed for some reason as he was stalking off with his prize, but Hawk didn’t look back to see why. 

He ate about half of the muffin before throwing the other half at Kyler’s face half way through some story about a (probably fictitious) conquest. He wasn’t unhappy hanging out with his Cobra Kai friends or anything; he was a force of chaos who didn’t need a reason to throw muffins at people. 

Kyler pretended to think it was hilarious because he had no other options, and that was at least a victory. 

**January 21**

It was his last chemistry lab before the final and they were doing an assignment designed to help them review the kinds of material that would be on the test. Demetri had sat with Hawk for some reason and was currently his lab partner. So far he hadn’t done anything except the work, but obviously Hawk didn’t trust that would continue. 

For his part, Hawk had spent the first ten minutes of the class trying to melt the side of Demetri’s head with his eyes. 

“So, covalent bonds?” Demetri indicated something on the worksheet in front of them, but Hawk didn’t stop glaring at him to look. He wasn’t going to play along with whatever it was Demetri was plotting. 

“What about’em?”

Demetri topped Miguel’s sigh from the cafeteria. 

“Do Pixar movies count as nerd shit?” Here they went. Hawk didn’t answer both because this whole thing was stupid and he wasn’t going to participate, and because he suspected most people would say the answer was ‘not really’ even though for him it was ‘yes’. Before he’d shed his loser skin he’d loved movies like Coco and Up – movies that made him emotional and ultimately got him crying like a baby. He’d watch his favourites over and over, especially if he was having a rough day. That’s what made them dangerous now. Watching them had basically been a conscious choice to revel in how weak and soft he’d been, combined with being a source of comfort he shouldn’t need. 

He definitely wasn’t going to go see that new ‘Heart’ movie that had come out last week. He could just imagine what the other cobras would think if they caught him in line for an animated movie. 

“So now you have over an hour to spoil every part of the new movie? That it?” 

“Yep. One detail whenever I think you’re not trying or paying attention. Now: covalent bonds…”

Hawk didn’t understand the logic behind this phase of Demetri’s evil plot. He was using the threat of spoilers to get him to study? 

Hawk had half a mind to just keep glaring and let Demetri spoil whatever he liked, but there was still a part of him hoping he would manage to pass the class somehow. Demetri and him always used to study well together, and Hawk could really use a good study session...

Hawk let Demetri tutor him for the rest of class. Paying attention was easy – he did used to like stuff like this, and Demetri understood how he studied well – and he found some of the things that had stumped him on the last test clicking better. 

“So, it goes like…” Hawk wrote out the answer to one of the problems on the worksheet he’d been having trouble with. 

“You’ve got it. See, you’re smart about things like this.” Demetri smiled encouragingly and Hawk felt his face heat up. He tried to look away before Demetri could see, but the gentle laughter he heard as he was pretending to fish something out of his bag probably meant he hadn’t succeeded. He realized that despite his embarrassment and the fact that his enemy was laughing at him, he was smiling. 

The bell rang.

“Do you want to come over after school and keep working?” Demetri was again offering to help him and Hawk just couldn’t understand it. Did he think Chemistry would be a gateway to the nerd side somehow: that he could knock Hawk down a peg by helping him pass? Was it just that he thought he could create division in the Cobra Kai ranks this way? The other Cobras couldn’t care less what his grades were like, but they would take issue with him willingly spending time outside of school with Demetri. 

Hawk was definitely not smiling anymore. Despite the confusion his first instinct had been to say he wanted to go to Demetri’s to study and it was all just too familiar. He was reminded again of how easy it would be to fall into old habits if he wasn’t vigilant. He planned to just shove his books in his bag and be on his way, but Demetri’s hand on his stopped him.

“I haven’t seen it yet. ‘Heart’, I mean. I’m waiting for you.” Demetri’s dark eyes were hopeful when Hawk met them. He didn’t know what to make of Demetri lying about spoilers he couldn’t deliver on any more than he could interpret the offer of study help. If Hawk had refused to work with him would he have just made things up? Was he just that sure Hawk wouldn’t risk those particular spoilers? “I like it too, but Pixar was always more your thing.”

“Yeah, well, I’m over it.” Hawk pulled away and made his exit. 

The last period of the day – History, which he was doing alright in because he’d written his term paper while he was away over winter break – was spent going over Demetri’s odd behaviour. Maybe he just wanted to help because they’d been best friends and he didn’t like seeing Eli struggle?

Nah, couldn’t be it. 

Demetri had said before that this was all leading up to Valentine’s Day too, which was another source of confusion… Maybe he was just being confusing for the sake of being confusing to throw Hawk off his game?

Whatever it was, it must violate the agreement between the dojos to leave each other alone until after the tournament. By the time the bell rang again Hawk had a clear course of action in mind. He headed right for Miguel’s locker and waited for his other former friend to appear. He’d get him to call this off, or Hawk would make sure the temporary truce was called off too. 

“Hawk. Hey...” Miguel seemed unsure when he arrived, stopping a few paces from his locker and looking Hawk over for a moment. He apparently determined Hawk wasn’t up to anything sinister because he shrugged and continued on to the locker Hawk was standing beside a moment later. 

“Call him off.”

“This is about Demetri’s ‘master plan’, I take it?”

“Does he actually call it that?” 

“No, he’s still deciding on a name. I think the contenders right now are ‘Spoil Anything’, ‘When Hawk-y Met Spoilers’ –“ Miguel finished putting things in his locker and leaned heavily on it when it was shut. He looked tired. “’Bird of Prey: The Fantabulous Emancipation of Eli Moskowitz’, and ‘Spoilers for My Valentine’. I voted for ‘Spoilers for My Valentine’.”

“He talks about this a lot?”

Miguel just gave him a ‘duh’ look and, yeah, of course he did. It was maybe sort of nice being on the same wavelength as Miguel again for a second, but that wasn’t why he was there.

“Well, whatever he’s calling it, tell him to stop. We have an agreement to save any kind of harassment until after the tournament. If Miyagi-Do breaks the deal we can too.” 

“Are you feeling harassed?” Miguel looked like he doubted it but was ready to take him seriously if he said yes. 

“No. But that doesn’t change what he’s doing!”

“He’s just spoiling tv and movies and stuff, right?” Miguel started walking towards the school doors and Hawk fell into step with him easily.

“No, he also keeps trying to help me study.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And why does he say it’s a Valentine’s Day thing?”

“I think it’s going to get more on theme in February.”

“What?”

“Oh, uh, can’t tell you.” Miguel shot him a grin. “Spoiler.” 

“Right.” Hawk said flatly. They made it to the front exit of the school and stepped out. Hawk should have just walked away then, but he found himself lingering. 

“If this is some kind of weird psychological warfare then it’s against the deal.”

“It is. But what else do you think it is?”

Hawk didn’t have an answer. 

“Well, just think about it. I’m not going to tell Demetri to stop – it seems like it might actually be working.” Miguel shrugged and gave him a little wave before heading to the bus. 

Hawk frowned after him, feeling like he was missing something obvious and realizing he couldn’t make good on a threat to escalate things. As much as the other Cobras would like an excuse to go after the rival dojos, ‘Demetri spoiled some nerd shit I don’t even care about’ probably wouldn’t cut it. If anything he’d come out looking weak for bringing it up. 

**January 26**

Hawk’s Chemistry final was an hour away and, since most of the other Cobras had finals that afternoon too, a lot of them were doing last minute cramming. Nobody was going to judge Hawk for doing the same right now so he was headed to the library for some quiet. 

While he was looking for a free table – it was a busy library day – he spotted Demetri reading an issue of Dungeon Lord. He knew he should move on to a different table, but he realized he’d been spotted spotting Demetri and now the other boy was watching him watch him and it was all just too awkward. He walked over and stood behind the free chair at Demetri’s table, but did not sit down. 

“Feeling cocky? The final’s next period.”

“Well, unlike some people, I still study consistently. I’m as ready as I’m going to get.” Demetri looked up from the comic and smirked up at Hawk. “I can help you study though, if you want.” 

Hawk was not going to ask for help. But he did sit down because the alternative was wandering around looking for a spot while knowing Demetri was watching him loiter and be awkward. 

As he sat and got a different angle on it, he caught sight of something on the comic’s cover. Falcona – a druid who was basically his favourite character – was fighting her best friend. When did that happen? 

Not that he wanted to know. 

He unintentionally tilted his head to get a better look and only noticed when he caught sight of Demetri’s expression, which would have been at home on the Cheshire cat. 

“We can do like last time – you let me help and I don’t spoil Dungeon Lord.”

“No.” Hawk opened his book to start studying _alone_. He wasn’t playing this game again.

“Okay, so, you stopped around issue 37, right? So that was right before Falcona –“

“I pick Dungeon Lord!” Hawk whisper-hissed. “You said I could pick one thing for you to not spoil.” 

“As a Valentine’s Day present, yeah.” Demetri blinked, like he was surprized Hawk was actually taking him up on that. 

“Well, there you go. I pick Dungeon Lord. So shut up.”

“So you’re agreeing to be my valentine?” Demetri’s ‘surprized’ expression was quickly melting into ‘pleased’. As if he was actually serious about the valentine thing, which he definitely wasn’t. He didn’t even like boys. Neither did Hawk. Necessarily. As Eli he’d maybe had some thoughts but he didn’t come to any conclusions before Hawk was dating Moon, and he’d liked that, so whatever. Point was, the valentine thing was some kind of bad joke.

“What? No.”

“If you really just can’t stand this story being spoiled, you don’t have to wait for Valentine’s Day at all. Just admit you still like ‘nerd shit’ and you can borrow every issue you missed after school today.” 

“Suck a turd, Demetri.” Hawk shot back, unimpressed, and tried to focus on chemistry. Except. “…So that’s the endgame of this whole stupid thing? Seriously?”

“It’s part of it. I’m reminding you who you are and what you’re missing out on. It’s revenge and bait all rolled into one.”

“Except it’s neither because I don’t care.” 

Demetri snort-laughed. “Okay ‘Hawk’.”

Hawk really did turn his attention to his chemistry book then. 

“Sure you don’t want help?”

“Positive.” 

Demetri started quizzing him anyways. And, well, it was clear he wasn’t going to shut up and let Hawk focus on solo studying so he maybe let him help. He barely had a choice. 

**February 3**

There’d already been two school days in February and so far Demetri hadn’t tried to spoil anything. The new annoyance in Hawk’s life was the prospect of a double date with Kyler. 

He’d apparently met ‘the hottest girl’ who worked at a frozen yogurt place near the dojo and convinced her to go out with him on Valentine’s Day, in part by promising he had a guy for her shy sister. He’d been bugging Hawk about it since Monday and Hawk hadn’t given him a straight answer yet. 

“Dude, I’ve already got the fro-yo honey primed, and if the sister’s as shy as she says I bet she’ll melt if you just throw a couple half-assed complements her way. Putty in our fucking hands, bro.” Kyler explained theatrically as he followed Hawk through the crowded hall to his locker. This was probably supposed to help him stay in Hawk’s good graces (as if he’d ever been there). Tory had been getting tired of his shit lately and he seemed to think being close to Hawk was the best way to defend against her. 

The whole thing sounded hellish and he should probably just give Kyler a solid ‘no’. But then Hawk heard his own voice telling Miguel he planned to have a ‘full rotation by midterms’ and, well, this was the life wasn’t it? 

“Sounds great.” The words sounded flat to his own ears, but Kyler either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Probably didn’t care. He put out a fist as if expecting a bump (not happening) and then settled for bopping Hawk in the shoulder before heading off to his next class. 

Honestly, it wasn’t like Hawk had any better prospects for Valentine’s Day. He hadn’t actually tried to flirt with a girl since the first day of school after the big brawl. His track record was Moon – who’d been the one to come on to him – and then two failed attempts at talking to girls. He hoped he wasn’t as bad as Kyler, but both of those girls had honestly just been people he’d hit on because they were there and suited who he was trying to be. 

He knew he wasn’t incapable of caring. Moon he’d cared about, a lot. He’d thought she was the one. But when he reflected on it, he mostly remembered being amazed that this beautiful girl was interested in him at all. Star struck, even. And then he’d gotten to know her she’d had such a big heart, so he’d thought the situation was perfect. But when he thought about it now, even with her he wasn’t sure he wanted to really…do anything. Besides, he’d never really felt like she knew him. 

And of course, before Moon there’d been the… other thoughts. 

But anyways, Moon wasn’t a possibility anymore and he was no longer entertaining ‘other thoughts’ so he supposed he may as well hang out with the sister of some girl Kyler was trying to score. Maybe Hawk could spend the night discreetly warning his date that Kyler was a creep she should save her sister from dating and ruin his plans.

And if the whole thing still felt empty and stupid and he found himself wishing he could just spend an evening with someone who gave a shit about him then he’d just have to get over that. It was pathetic. 

It wasn’t like Valentine’s Day was actually important anyways. He’d probably spent most of his with Demetri – not in a romantic sense, obviously, just in a ‘hanging out with my only friend because we’re either too young or too lame to have dates’ sense. 

He’d really never had a Valentine on Valentine’s Day.

One time in elementary school his mom had gotten him a pack of 30 small Pokémon-themed valentine’s cards (Valentine, I choose you!) to hand out. He hadn’t understood at the time, but the school rule was that if you brought any Valentine’s cards or candy then you should bring enough for everyone in your class so nobody was left out. He’d just written Demetri’s name in all of them and put all 30 on his best friend’s desk. He felt shy about giving them to a lot of the kids in his class and a movie he’d watched with his mom the night before had made it sound like you were only supposed to give things to your favourite person on Valentine’s Day. 

The teacher had come around when she saw him sitting at his desk instead of going around the room the way the other kids were. She asked if he was done and he’d just nodded at Demetri’s desk behind his. She’d sighed and told him it wasn’t fair to give all his cards to one person, that he had to share, and that Demetri didn’t need this many. That was when Demetri came running back and leaned over the top of his desk, hugging it so he was protecting the little pile of cards. 

“Noo, he already gave them to me!” 

The teacher had decided to pick her battles, or had to leave because another kid was crying, or something. Hawk didn’t remember. He did remember Demetri smiling wide – his face half covered in glitter from the crafts they’d done earlier, one tooth missing – and asking “It’s ‘cause you love me the most, right?”

Eli had nodded and Demetri had cheered. 

And wasn’t that a dumb thing to be thinking about right now?

Hawk opened his locker with more force than was probably necessary and a box fell out. It was red and heart-shaped and said ‘Be Mine’ in shiny gold lettering on the top. Hawk did not blush. He picked up the box and considered it for a moment. Did someone like him? How would they get this into his locker? 

When he opened the box he found a big heart-shaped cookie. Written on it in swoops of white icing was a simple message: 

‘Captain Westwind Dies’

Hawk screamed in rage. 

He remembered when he stopped seething that he’d had the same lock for a couple years and of course Demetri knew the combo. 

**February 8**

Hawk was running a bit late that morning. He had slept in just a bit, which set him behind for doing his hair, and it was just a whole snowball effect. By the time he was out the door he knew he’d really have to step on it if he didn’t want to be late.

He should have rushed right past the bouquet of flowers on the doorstep, but… well, they were there and he was curious. He realized his mistake a second too late. They were probably from Demetri, the card was probably a spoiler. But he’d already caught sight of the card and it wasn’t. It just said ‘Roger’. 

So these flowers weren’t from Demetri, they’d just come to the wrong house. Hawk couldn’t think of whether they had a neighbour named Roger, but whatever. Not his problem. 

… But the flowers were nice and they’d die if he left them out all day so Hawk took maybe a minute to run inside, cut the ends, and put them in water before again running out the door. 

For the rest of the day Hawk felt…disappointed? Why? Even if they’d been for him it’s not like they’d have been a nice present. they’d have just been a delivery method for a spoiler, like the cookie. Which had been from a specific bakery Demetri knew Hawk loved the sweets from – he’d been able to tell as soon as he’d taken the first bite (what? He wasn’t going to waste a perfectly good oversized cookie). That had already seemed like a strange amount of thought to put into just spoiling a show for someone, getting him flowers too would definitely be overkill. 

To be clear: Hawk wouldn’t want to be receiving flowers, or cookies for that matter, from anyone and especially not Demetri even if they were sincere attempts to romance him. Because he wasn’t someone who could be ‘romanced’. He was a badass who went out and just got what he needed (or would some day, maybe, if he felt like it), not some pansy who wanted affection and sweet little gestures. Like ‘Roger’ apparently was.

It was just after lunch when a thought occurred to him. He actually hadn’t been thinking about what Demetri might be planning, or his awful upcoming double date, or maintaining the regard of the other Cobras because he was on a bit of a high from passing chemistry. Or, potentially passing it. He’d done well on the final, but hadn’t aced it. Mathematically he was on the bubble where the teacher could pass or fail him and he’d chosen to pass him provided he turned in a make-up assignment. He’d been so sure he was going to fail. 

The teacher, who he’d had for other classes previous years, had called him into the lab at lunch and told him that he didn’t know what was going on with him lately but he knew he was a good kid and he was glad that it seemed like he was applying himself again. 

That’s what made him think again about the name ‘Roger’. Roger was a character from Power Changing Photon Warriors who had gotten a similar ‘I know you’re a good kid’ speech from a former teacher. Roger was originally on the good guy team, but he’d left to join the bad guys when he’d realized the galactic emperor (the big bad of the series) was his father. He remembered watching the episode with Demetri and them both shouting ‘No!’ at the TV during that reveal. 

Maybe the flowers were for him after all?

No, that was dumb. Also dumb: the way his heart beat a bit faster at the thought. What was wrong with him?

Still, when he got home he found himself staring at the flowers on the kitchen counter. The note didn’t say anything except the name Roger – not ‘To Roger’, not ‘From Roger’, just ‘Roger’. And what were the flowers? White daisies, yellow daisies, daffodils, and one other type he couldn’t name…

There was some type of old lady flower language, right?

A quick search on his phone told him that daisies meant ‘innocence’. Daffodils meant ‘new beginnings’. What about the third flower? Hawk grabbed the vase and carried it to his room – this could take a while. 

He set the vase down on his dresser and opened a flower database on his laptop. It took about an hour of browsing to figure out that the third flower was called a cyclamen. In the language of flowers they were considered a bad gift for a lover because they meant ‘separation’. 

So… Roger wasn’t ‘innocent’, not based on the things he’d done for the rest of the season after he’d turned on his friends. If the message was that Roger had been separated from innocence and started a new beginning with the galactic empire then that was old news. Did color make a difference to what daisies meant?

It took another hour of research for Hawk to realize that there weren’t any daisies in his bouquet. The yellow ones were actually Black Eyed Susans, and they meant ‘justice’. The white ones were Chamomile and they meant ‘energy in adversity’, which was quite the message for a dainty little tea flower. 

Roger broke away from the bad guys and started over again!

He’d ‘separated’ from the bad guys, ‘found energy in the adversity’ he’d faced, and delivered ‘justice’! Now he had a ‘new beginning’. Yes! Go Roger!

Except, no. As a matter of fact: shit!

He’d missed practice! It wasn’t like he’d be in trouble, other people missed classes here and there. Sensei would probably call him out briefly, but that was all. He hoped. He _never_ missed practice. 

That had been over two hours of Hawk’s life and the payoff was that he’d spoiled himself. If he’d wanted to spoil himself he could have just googled ‘what happened to Roger from Photon Warriors?’. 

But he hadn’t wanted to spoil himself. 

But he’d done it anyways. He’d put work into it. Why? To prove to himself that the flowers were for him?

He had no idea what was going on with him, but one thing was for sure: Demetri could never know. 

**February 10**

_Roses are red  
Your smile is pretty  
Keiko was killed  
By a demon kitty  
Be my valentine? Circle and pass back:  
Yes No_

Hawk had English with Demetri this semester. The desks were paired – two pressed together – in this class because there were lots of discussion questions. It had been easy for Demetri to get the seat next to Hawk that day because there were an odd number of students in the class, none of them were cobras, and Hawk was scary so nobody ever tried to sit with him. 

He shoved the note in his pocket. He wasn’t going to pass it back with an answer because that was stupid. This whole thing was stupid. 

_Cobras wear red  
You’ve always been cute  
Last week on Psychics  
They gave Cliff the boot  
Be my valentine? Circle and pass back:  
Yes No _

Why did he keep reading these? Hawk shoved this note in his pocket too and feigned listening to the teacher while Demetri scribbled out yet another poem in the desk next to him. Was he writing these on the spot, or had he memorized a whole bunch? Why not write them before class?

_Your hair is red  
It used to be blue  
No spoiler here  
I just like you  
Be my valentine? Circle and pass back:  
Yes No_

Hawk didn’t know what to think about this one, but he suspected his face might also be red. This was a very bad time for his brain to remind him how a lot of those ‘other thoughts’ he ‘wasn’t entertaining’ anymore had revolved around Demetri. Which didn’t mean anything, he’d just been the only person he’d interacted with on a regular basis at the time. And even if it hadn’t been as simple as that it wouldn’t matter because Demetri definitely wasn’t being serious with that one. That would make no sense at all. 

Demetri wasn’t an idiot and Hawk wasn’t… good. In any sense of the word. He wasn’t a good person, he wasn’t good looking, he wasn’t a good friend or boyfriend, he wasn’t good in school anymore, he was just no good in general except when it came to fighting. 

He had to put an end to this. Demetri said this was all leading up to Valentine’s Day, so he should only have a few more days left to endure Demetri ‘reminding him what he’s missing’ and treating him with that strange mix of sweetness and smugness. Except, Demetri had also said that if he didn’t catch up on Dungeon Lord with him on Valentine’s Day that he would spoil it the day after. So maybe this would never end and the only way to get Demetri out of his life was to just spoil everything for himself pre-emptively. 

He could go home and google everything he’d stopped watching, reading, or playing as well as anything new that had come out that Demetri would be able to guess he’d be interested in. And then when he couldn’t spoil anything Demetri would hopefully stop with the other stuff too. 

Hawk really didn’t want to spoil everything though. Because he didn’t care and that was a lot of work. Not because he drew any kind of comfort from the idea that there were all these fictional worlds waiting for him if he ever needed somewhere to escape to and spoiling their stories made them feel less alive. 

_Does this go on forever or just until V. Day?_ Hawk wrote on the back of Demetri’s note and turned it towards him on his desk.

“Depends.” Demetri whispered, leaning in a bit closer. “Bait and revenge, remember? The revenge will go on until you take the bait. But I’ll stop trying to date you if you don’t come on Valentine’s.” 

“You’re not trying to date me.” Hawk whispered back, irritated.

“I really clearly am. And I’ve got to say, it’s more fun being cryptic.” 

“Whatever.” Hawk still didn’t believe him. “So, if I do ‘take the bait’ and come on Valentine’s Day that’s the end of it?”

“Should be.” 

One night of reading comics to free himself from Demetri’s games didn’t sound like a horrible deal. As long as nobody ever found out. He’d get to find out what happened to Falcona. And he wouldn’t have to go on that double date with Kyler. 

This was a terrible idea. It threatened all of his personal progress. 

Hawk flipped the note back over and circled ‘Yes’ while Demetri was watching. 

**February 12**

Hawk was going to back out. Obviously. He didn’t know what he’d been thinking the other day. He’d let Demetri manipulate him into coming over to read comics like the loser he used to be, and he’d probably make him ‘admit he liked nerd shit’ for it to count, and Hawk had even let him frame it all as if it was some kind of date. He’d agreed to be his Valentine. This had to be Demetri asserting some kind of weird dominance, right? It was adversarial, no matter what he’d said in his little poems. 

The worst part was that Hawk knew this wasn’t just about the spoilers, on his part. The other stuff – the cookie from his favourite bakery, helping him pass chemistry, telling him he was ‘cute’ (not that Hawk wanted to be considered cute, but still), making him think about all the things that had made him happy when he’d called himself Eli, and even the damn flowers (a lot of thought had to go into those, right?) – was all getting to him. He was compromised. Some sad little scrap of weakness he hadn’t managed to cut out of himself yet wanted a night in a simpler time. Wanted to spend a peaceful evening with his best friend wondering if maybe they could be something else some day, like he used to not long before they’d met Miguel. 

So, in two days he’d just… Stand Demetri up. And he could spoil whatever he wanted. And Hawk wouldn’t care. For real, this time. 

Except, when he got to his locker that morning – the last school day before Valentine’s Day – there was something attached to his lock. A keychain with ball of fuzz attached. When he got closer Hawk realized it was actually Sparky the cloud sprite, a sidekick of the heroes in Dungeon Lord. There was something else taped to it too. A little Valentine’s card, like kids exchanged. 

It was a Pokemon one. Valentine, I choose you! 

_Miss you. Can’t wait._ Was written in Demetri’s chicken scratch. 

“What’s that?” Kyler leaned heavily on the locker next to his and Hawk quickly shoved both the keychain and the card into his bag. Kyler obviously knew it wasn’t nothing, but he still wanted to be on Hawk’s good side (as if he ever had been) so he didn’t push it.

“Nothing. Hey, can you get me my date’s number?”

Hawk texted the girl after school that day to say he was sorry he wouldn’t make it on Valentine’s Day and that she should warn her sister his ‘friend’ was a creep. 

**February 14 – Valentine’s Day**

Hawk stood at Demetri’s door with the grey hood of his sweatshirt pulled up over his currently non-spikey hair. He hadn’t wanted to risk being spotted coming over and covering his hair was the best disguise. 

This was going to be fine. Maybe it was even something he needed for closure. He’d let himself enjoy catching up in Dungeon Lord and get all of this leftover nerdy residue out of his system. He wasn’t being lured back into anything; he was saying goodbye to all of it. 

He was still psyching himself up to ring the doorbell when Demetri – apparently aware he was standing there – got impatient and opened the door. He was smiling bright and wearing a t-shirt Hawk hadn’t actually seen before. It said ‘You Are’ and then had three images underneath.

A sideways ‘v’ shape with a curve drawn near the point, a cup with steam rising out of it, and the symbol for pi…

You are ‘acute tea pi’. 

Hawk laughed a bit before he could stop himself and then Demetri laughed at him trying to covering it with a cough and stepped to the side. “Just get in here, Mr. Too Cool.” 

Hawk walked inside and Demetri closed the door behind him. Hawk expected his ex-friend to get smug at this point, for there to be some kind of ‘now that I’ve got you trapped, I’ll outline all the nerdy tortures I have in store’ Bond villain speech, but nothing came. Demetri just launched into how his parents were gone to some bed and breakfast place overnight so they had the house to themselves, chatting away like this was normal. Like this was one of the thousands of other times Eli had come over to hang out. 

A wave of nostalgia froze Hawk in the familiar entry way for a moment before he shook it off and slid out of his shoes. He hung his hoodie on the rack by the door, and that’s when Demetri came back in to see what was taking him so long. When he turned to see his ex-best friend, it seemed like it was the taller boy’s turn to be frozen. Hawk couldn’t think of a word for the look on his face then, but as his expression melted it became warm and adoring. 

No, that couldn’t be the right word…

“It looks better down.” Demetri teased as the moment passed.

“Don’t get used to it.”

“I might, though.” 

He followed Demetri through the kitchen – “I have food for later, but it’s kind of early.” – and up the stairs to the bedroom where he’d spent so many nights sleeping on an air mattress on the floor. Demetri’s room was as familiar as his own. Where Hawk’s had changed over the last year – nerdy posters taken down, a poster of the Cobra Kai logo added, stuff like that – but Demetri’s really hadn’t. He didn’t even have one of those dumb little trees. Hawk had been under the impression LaRusso practically forced those on people. 

Demetri hopped onto his bed – where he already had multiple comic issues sitting out – and sat up by the head, positioning one pillow behind him so he could lean back against the wall. The other pillow he held out to Hawk, who took it hesitantly. They’d always sat on Demetri’s bed if they were reading together before, but for some reason it hadn’t occurred to Hawk that they’d be doing so today. It probably shouldn’t feel as awkward and intimate as it did – they’d done this their whole lives, practically – but… couldn’t they go downstairs to the kitchen table or something?

“Is this… not okay?” Demetri looked sad, but Hawk was pretty sure he’d let them go downstairs if he said he wanted to. Which he shouldn’t feel so sure about, because this was ‘revenge’, right? Maybe Demetri hadn’t lorded this over him too much yet, but this would be a good place to start. He wasn’t going to, though. Hawk was confident based on the hesitant tone of his voice and the annoying disappointment in his dark eyes. 

“It’s fine.” Hawk sat on the bed, near the foot, and set the pillow up behind him. 

“So, here’s the thing: we can’t really read together if you’re all the way over there…” 

That was true. There was only one copy of each issue. 

“We can go somewhere else if –“

“No, it’s fine!”

Hawk crawled up to the head of the bed next to Demetri and set the pillow up there, turning and sitting with a huff, because this really shouldn’t be a big deal. It’s not like they were any closer than they had been in class the other day. 

“Okay, so, you’re on issue 38? The one where –“

There must have been something extra behind this particular glare because it actually made Demetri stop this time. 

“I’m kidding! Jeez Eli, we’re going to have to find a way to unwind you.” Hawk decided it wasn’t worth getting into a fight over his name right now. They were alone, and it always sounded unnatural when Demetri said ‘Hawk’. “I’ve got some ideas.” 

The weird eyebrow wag was not meant to be flirtatious. He was just teasing. This was not a real date. 

“This issue is pretty Duncan heavy, so if you read for him I’ll get everyone else?”

They started reading then, pretty flatly at first. Duncan was this brooding edgelord type who wasn’t necessarily one of Hawk’s favourites although he knew a lot of people read mainly for him. He was still interested in the story, though, because the decisions Duncan was making would effect everyone else in pretty major ways. After a while they got to the point where Duncan was fighting some of the more colourful characters in the series and Demetri had a way of doing their voices that always made Eli laugh. Today was no different. He was distracted enough by the story and the familiarity of the whole situation that he didn’t even fight it. He started putting more force behind Duncan’s brooding voice then too, which Demetri seemed to appreciate. For awhile things were exactly how they used to be.

They finished that issue and Demetri set the book aside, leaning forward to grab the next one. When he sat back he ‘snuck’ an arm around Hawk’s shoulders. Which was not something they used to do. Was Demetri teasing him again about the pretense that this was a date? He should call him on it. Instead he shuffled a bit closer and asked how they should divide up the characters in this one. Demetri’s expression turned all warm again and he squeezed his shoulders briefly before answering. 

When they finished that issue they were both getting hungry and Demetri iterated again that he’d already gotten them food. They went down to the kitchen and he took it out of the oven, which he’d had on low to keep it warm.

“It’s just pizza, but it’s from that place we went for your 14th birthday, remember? You said it was so good, but we both live outside the delivery range and we never got a chance to go back.” 

Hawk was leaning on the opposite side of the kitchen island, listening to Demetri talk about how he’d convinced the restaurant to make a pizza and freeze it for him so he could pick it up and make it at home, when he realized the truth.

“…This is a date.”

“…Yeah. We’ve kind of been over that. A couple times.” Demetri frowned deeply, crossing his arms and leaning back against the counter near the pizza he’d just finished cutting. 

“I didn’t think you were serious!”

“I don’t really know how much more explicit I can be about it: I’m trying to woo you.” 

Hawk’s face scrunched up at that word. “You are not going to ‘woo’ me.” 

“I mean, you were pretty happily tucked under my arm for like an hour earlier, so…” 

“Shut up.” Demetri smirked a bit because they both knew that was an ‘I have no comeback’ kind of ‘shut up’, but there was something heavy in his expression that hadn’t been there earlier. He thought Hawk had agreed knowing this was a date, he supposed.

Hawk tried to do the math. This was ‘revenge and bait’, Demetri had said. He was luring him into old interests. And he was also trying to ‘woo’ him. But even if this was a real date, obviously Demetri didn’t want to be his boyfriend or something like that. He couldn’t, after what Hawk had done. So the ‘wooing’ must also be related to using his old interests against him. 

“Are you…” Hawk blinked, trying to piece it all together.

“Am I…?”

“Are you trying to fuck the nerd back into me?”

Demetri blinked five times and disappeared. 

More accurately, he was shocked for a moment and then toppled over laughing. Hawk rounded the kitchen island to find him crouched on the floor wheezing. “Am I try…am I trying… what…”

“You heard me.” Hawk glared down at the barely functioning pile of giggles, flushing as it sunk in just how stupid his last sentence had been.

“That doesn’t even make sense!”

“None of this makes sense!”

Hawk considered just leaving. Surely he’d embarrassed himself enough for one night? Demetri had maneuvered himself into a sitting position with his back against the cupboards, though, and was patting the space next to him as he fought down another wave of giggles. Hawk sat reluctantly, throwing Demetri a skeptical look. He still didn’t understand what he wanted out of all this besides to make Hawk lame again. 

Demetri didn’t give him any answers. He just turned towards him with laughing eyes, grabbed the back of Hawk’s head, and brought their lips together.

Hawk’s train of thought derailed off a cliff. Demetri didn’t do anything for a moment, just sighed and pressed close to him. Then he turned his head and started to move. Hawk made a high, involuntary, sound he would deny later and started pressing back. Then Demetri’s tongue was licking at his lips and he felt himself go boneless. 

If Demetri had pressed any further Hawk would have had no ability to do anything except kiss him back and happily let himself be led wherever Demetri wanted to take him. Demetri pulled away, though, giving him just one more chaste peck before pressing their foreheads together. 

“The spoilers were a kind of petty revenge, but the endgame has always been to remind you who you really are. And to make out with you.” Demetri laughed again and they were close enough that Hawk could feel the vibrations of it. When he spoke again his voice had a slightly cruder edge. “Pretty sure ‘fucking the nerd back into you’ isn’t a thing, but I like where your head’s at and I’m happy to try.” 

Hawk rolled his eyes and pulled away, standing up. Demetri followed, his smile dimmer. 

“This doesn’t… have to be a date. If you don’t want it to be.”

“Why do you want it to be? This is so random.” 

“It’s not remotely random. I didn’t see it until I did some serious reflecting a while back, but there’s always been a spark here.” 

“Maybe there was before I killed it!” Hawk hadn’t meant to shout that. He tried to force his tone back down as he continued. “Demetri, I broke your fucking arm. You cannot possibly want a boyfriend who broke your arm. You cannot possibly forgive me.”

“That’s why you’ve been so slow to see it? Makes sense, I guess…” Demetri was completely serious now, all of the humor of a few moments ago gone. “I’m the one who gets to decide if I can forgive you, Eli. And you’re right, I haven’t yet, but I want to. I want to give you a chance to ask me to. I planned to get to that before kissing you, but things happen.”

“Really?” Hawk’s voice was small. He’d been so sure that bridge was burnt forever. Since the Laser Tag fight he’d tried so hard not to let himself acknowledge any regret, because doing so was weak and nothing could come of it. There was no going back.

“The thing that hurt the most was that I always believed you loved me. I didn’t think about it in a romantic sense, or in any particular sense – ‘Eli loves me’ was just a truth in my life, and a pretty important one. Knowing that you could actually hurt me that badly threw my whole universe off course.” 

“Mine too.” Hawk breathed a shaky breath, wishing he’d kept his hoodie on so he could fidget with the long sleeves. Because, yeah, his own ability to hurt Demetri like that had been a tough pill to swallow. So tough in fact that he hadn’t managed it yet. He’d tried his best to think of Demetri as just an enemy or a nerd and not as Demetri who used to be the favourite person he’d wanted to give all his valentines to. 

“Then what are you waiting for? Apologize. Ask me to forgive you. Stop pretending to be someone you’re not.” 

“You make it sound so simple.” Part of Hawk wanted to argue that he wasn’t faking anything, but the conversation had gotten serious enough that he was pretty sure Demetri would throw him out if he did. It also felt like a lie.

“It can be.” 

“I’m sorry.” It felt like a damn had burst. “Fuck, Demetri, I’m so sorry. But I can’t… there’s nothing I can do to set that right.”

“Again, that’s up to me, and I just want you to be yourself. The Eli that loves ‘nerd shit’, that loves me and wouldn’t hurt me. I need him back.” 

“Okay.” He didn’t even hesitate. He thought he’d be Cobra Kai for life, but in the face of forgiveness from his best friend it suddenly seemed so much less important. He wanted to stop lying to himself that he was happy. Tonight was the happiest he’d been in a long time. Even Demetri pestering him with spoilers had been a nice change from the daily Cobra grind. 

“Okay.” Demetri smiled, and Hawk hadn’t noticed himself moving but he was standing right in front of the other boy now.

“…I’m still going to need to hear you say it.” 

Hawk rolled his eyes, but complied. “I love nerd shit.” 

“See? I didn’t even have to fuck that into you.” 

Hawk groaned and tried to walk away, but Demetri grabbed his wrist and pulled him to his chest. He swayed them both a bit and planted a kiss on Hawk’s temple. “I’m never going to let you live that down. Also, you have to plan our second date.”

That honestly seemed fair.

“I mean, I sent you a coded flower message.” 

“It was at least good to hear Roger came around.”

“I KNEW you’d decipher the flowers. How long did it take you?” Demetri squeezed him affectionately, but his voice was smug as hell.

“I just googled it.” 

“You did not.”

“I did not.

They ate their pizza and read more comics. At one point they were laughing at something they’d read and Demetri slipped the book out of Hawk’s hands before swinging a leg over him and kissing him a lot deeper than they’d gotten around to in the kitchen. 

“I would watch you across the cafeteria, sitting with your little quiver, and get so mad. You might have had them all fooled, but I knew you were miserable.” Demetri spoke against Hawk’s skin between kisses, because of course he couldn’t shut up even when they were making out. “Because you’ve always belonged with me.”

**February 15**

Eli ‘Hawk’ Moskowitz picked up his tray of lunch, took a deep breath, and walked to where his boyfriend was sitting with a collection of the various people he’d offended over the past year or so. People who had been his friends, who he’d let Kreese decide were his enemies. People who he’d always treated as enemies because one could not simply be ‘from another karate school’. The little guy he’d beaten up because he’d…helped raise money for Miguel? What was wrong with him? Anyways, he was going to need to make up with them somehow, because once the Cobras realized he wasn’t with them anymore that truce would only protect him if he was with one of the other dojos. 

He didn’t know how he was going to convince them to let him in, but hopefully demonstrating that he could eat lunch without snarling or attacking anyone would help. The sunshiney smile Miguel was aiming his way was a promising start. 

“Hey babe.” Demetri smirked up at him from where he was sitting and scooched a bit to the side to make more room. 

“Don’t call me babe.” There was no venom behind the protest because he knew Demetri was only saying it to be a pain. He sat down and found a whole lot of skeptical eyes on him. Sam LaRusso looked like she wanted to gut him. And honestly, Hawk respected it. 

Demetri pecked him quickly on the mouth before launching into the epic tale of Operation ‘Spoilers for My Valentine’. He did not skip any of the embarrassing parts. 

Hawk really didn’t mind. For the first time in a while he felt good about where he was, and where he was going.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! Let me know what you think =)


End file.
